Tauride Palace

Why go

Tauride Palace rewards attention to scale, orientation, and setting. Tauride Palace (Таврический дворец) is one of the largest and most historic palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Before leaving, compare one close detail of Tauride Palace with its broadest public view. At Tauride Palace, a slower circuit makes Tauride Palace's neighborhood relationship easier to read.

What to look for

• Tauride Palace: Trace the building line before concentrating on individual details.
• Tauride Palace: Compare textures, color, and proportions at pedestrian level.
• Tauride Palace: Use the opposite side of the approach for a wider composition.

The full story

Tauride Palace (Таврический дворец) is one of the largest and most historic palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Potemkin Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride commissioned his favourite architect, Ivan Starov, to design his city residence in a rigorous Palladian style. Starov's design called for an extensive park and harbour in front of the palace, which would be linked with the Neva River by a canal. Building work began in 1783 and lasted for six years. Catherine II After the owner's death several months later, Catherine II purchased his palace and ordered architect Fyodor Volkov to transform it into her summer townhouse. Volkov was responsible for many improvements in the grounds, including the construction of the theatre in the east wing and the church in the west wing. In the garden, he designed the Admiralty Pavilion, gardener house, orangery, glass-houses, bridges, and ironwork fences. The sculpture named the Venus Tauride (now in the Hermitage Museum) was kept in the palace from the end of the eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth, and derives its name from it.

Useful to know

• Plan Tauride Palace mainly as an exterior stop unless current visitor access is confirmed.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.